al-Amīn

(1,349 words)

, muḥammad , ʿAbbāsid Caliph, reigned 193-8/809-13. Born in S̲h̲awwāl 170/April 787, of Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd and Zubayda, niece of al-Manṣūr, he was thus of pure Hās̲h̲imite stock both on his father’s and his mother’s side; hence he was given priority in the order of succession over his brother ʿAbd Allāh (the future al-Maʾmūn), who was born six months before him but of a slave mother. In fact, the first bayʿa as heir to the throne was accorded to him by al-Ras̲h̲īd in 175/792, when he was barely five years old, and it was not until 183/799 that al-Maʾmūn was design…